David Cameron writes for MSE on his plans to help on energy bills

SuziQ1962

Why do we have to pay VAT on fuel even at a reduced rate? It is going to cost me £50 on my gas bill alone over the next year-ok not a lot but if the government are sooooo concerned why are they making money on it?

lynzpower

SuziQ1962 wrote: »

Why do we have to pay VAT on fuel even at a reduced rate? It is going to cost me £50 on my gas bill alone over the next year-ok not a lot but if the government are sooooo concerned why are they making money on it?

Cos its a luxury innit. :eek:

certainly the first "X amount of units" should be vat free.

And vat for higher users should kick in after X amount of units.

And it should be higher users. And what classes as a higher user should never vary.

magyar

lynzpower wrote: »

Cos its a luxury innit. :eek:

"Luxury" isn't and never was the definition of what VAT gets charged on.

Brummie71

Just a point to correct the statement that Martin published.

The PM reckons that insulation will be free under the Green Deal? No it won't. You can get it done for free or at a hefty discount right now all subsidised by CERT. Once that ends next year, the price will rise to £300-500 for loft or cavity wall insulation, which will go on your Green Loan to be repaid over a few years.

lynzpower

Brummie71 wrote: »

Just a point to correct the statement that Martin published.

The PM reckons that insulation will be free under the Green Deal? No it won't. You can get it done for free or at a hefty discount right now all subsidised by CERT. Once that ends next year, the price will rise to £300-500 for loft or cavity wall insulation, which will go on your Green Loan to be repaid over a few years.

Even now the rate of interest on the green loan has not been decided. ( unless someone knows different)

Put it this way our government wants to take a slice. Course it does!

Currently if your rented home is excessively cold then EHOs will ensure that your landlord mitigates the hazard ( be it loft insulation, brush stripping, whatever0. Now it will be that you the tenant pays to improve your landlords asset. Apparently you will see huge savings off your bill....

How much are these huge savings? It seems that the government is claiming there will be savings yet prices are rising all the time, so will there be savings or not? I don't see how the gov can claim there will be unless they cap prices here and now.

(not that I think price capping is the solution BTW)


If this government claims to hate debt why is it creating a new debt for so many of us?

rogerblack

Brummie71 wrote: »

. Once that ends next year, the price will rise to £300-500 for loft or cavity wall insulation, which will go on your Green Loan to be repaid over a few years.

And importantly, there will be yet another layer of bureaucracy, and increased prices from the people certified to install this 'green deal' kit.

You can't - for example - DIY any part of it, even though it might reduce the costs by half.

Another fun issue is that as I understand it, it's possible to get green deal funding to install heatpumps.
These do not last as long as the likely period of the green deal.

mattcanary

magyar wrote: »

All sounds lovely but:

Not all customers that have prepayment meters have been a credit risk. Many have moved in to a property that aready has prepayment meters - to find that their supplier won;t remove the prepayment meter.

The government should enforce a rule that utility companies must remove the prepayment meter for a quarterly one if the customer asks for this to be done (and the custome is not a bad credit risk)

magyar

mattcanary wrote: »

Not all customers that have prepayment meters have been a credit risk. Many have moved in to a property that aready has prepayment meters - to find that their supplier won;t remove the prepayment meter.

The government should enforce a rule that utility companies must remove the prepayment meter for a quarterly one if the customer asks for this to be done (and the custome is not a bad credit risk)

Completely agree with that.

davidgmmafan

I have been following the comments with interest and just wanted to put in my 2 pence worth.

I must say this seems to me to be a spectacular own goal. One minute they're going to turn up the heat on the energy companies. Then after the summit they come out taking EXACTLY the same line as the energy companies. It makes you wonder what was said in the thing itself...

magyar

davidgmmafan wrote: »

I have been following the comments with interest and just wanted to put in my 2 pence worth.

I must say this seems to me to be a spectacular own goal. One minute they're going to turn up the heat on the energy companies. Then after the summit they come out taking EXACTLY the same line as the energy companies. It makes you wonder what was said in the thing itself...

I agree it's made Cameron in particular look rather foolish (I don't think Huhne needs any help in that regard).

I would normally expect such 'summits' to be rubber-stamping discussions that have been held between ministerial/departmental officials and the energy companies already.

It seems rather bizarre that they appear to have gone into this meeting with no idea what they wanted to get out of it, and as you say have then come out saying more or less exactly what they could have said anyway.